Mark Valerius Valerianus - Легионер
Легионер
Mark Valery Valerian was born in Rome, into the family of a moderately wealthy owner, Insula, from the Valeriev Maximov family. There was also a patrician branch, but the roads between them diverged by the time Caesar came into being.
The young man himself was very curious and energetic from childhood. The Greek teacher, a slave, complained to his father that the boy, although he studied literacy well, was often absent from lessons. There were certain reasons for this. The Republic was going through hard times, as seen from the perspective of a young citizen of Rome. The city survived fires and civil wars, which left numerous ruins in the appearance of the city. This was depressing for the guy who had read books about the old days and glory of Rome, but saw a stark contrast between the content of the book and reality. The rather tense situation in the city prompted the guy to engage in physical exercise, which contributed to his physical strength in his future career as a legionnaire.
On his 14th birthday, Mark's father gave him the memoirs of his ancestor, known as Quintus Valery Maxim. The young man fell in love with the republican’s stories and really wanted to visit different places too. Unfortunately for his father, Mark's passion for military affairs greatly harmed his involvement in the family business. The guy was not at all interested in him, unlike his brothers. In 851 from the birth of Rome, the son of the divine Nerva, Marcus Ulpius Nerva Trajan, arrived in the city and conducted a triumphal entry into the city. This sight amazed Mark and reminded him of the descriptions of triumphs from books. The young man also received his Congiarium, for the first time the Emperor took office.
By the age of 17, Mark’s father offers Mark a choice: either he joins the legion and from the family he gets only his family name and surname, but his father accepts his choice with humility, or he begins to seriously engage in the family’s business and abandons this idea of military romance.
The guy, due to his ardor, himself enlists in the legion and becomes a tyrone in Leg. I italic in 853 from the birth of Rome
In 854, the Emperor, Caesar Ulpius Nerva Trajan, declared a campaign against the Dacian kingdom, which had been causing concern to Rome since the time of Domitian. The emperor did not forget past grievances. Mark's legion set out on a campaign. Pretty soon the young man felt what a real battle was like. The Dacians were terrible barbarians and inflicted significant wounds on the legionnaires with their weapons - the Falxes. Their rage was so strong that they broke shields and broke through helmets, which is why the legionnaires thought about strengthening their equipment, and the decree of the Supreme Prince ordered to provide the legionnaires with additional protection. The further course of the campaign was remembered by Mark as a continuous routine - the construction of roads and fortresses. In September, the main battle finally took place near the city of Tapy, where Mark distinguished himself in the front ranks and received the cognomen “Valerian” for his stories about the life he left, as a tribute to what the guy left for the sake of the legionary life.
Then the second Dacian war thundered, which Mark entered without youthful enthusiasm, but with the gloomy realization that the war must be won and the Dacians defeated. Otherwise, Rome, which he defended, will face difficult times. These were long days of siege of Sarmizegetusa, and then constant suppression of pockets of resistance of various groups of Dacians. At the end of the war, Mark was among the group of troops that checked the words of the adviser Decibalus, they discovered a huge treasure of the Dacian king. Although they were barbarians, it could be said that the Dacian king was swimming in money and could compare in this with the wealth of the Republic of the times of Mark’s ancestor. In the end, in 859 Dacia fell and in honor of this Trajan did not restore the symbol of the old power - Sarmisegetusa, but founded a new village - Ulpia Trajan.
Mark was assigned to the new LEG legion for his service record. X Fretensis, to Judea. There he took part in the Parthian War, which was started by Trajan and ended by Hadrian.
Having served his term, the no longer young soldier sailed to Chora Panticapaeum, where, according to the notes of his relative, he found his descendants, and they already pointed to the tombstone where he was buried. After praying for the ancestor who inspired him, Mark returned back to the 10th Legion and became an Evocat.
Further references to him are lost.
